In computer networking, a wireless access point or a base station is a device that allows wireless communication devices to connect to a wireless network such as wireless local area network (WLAN) or wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) or other related standards. The access point or base station usually connects to a wired network, and can relay data between the wireless devices (such as computers or printers) and wired devices on the network (Wikipedia—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_access_point).
Location devices such as a global positioning system (GPS) have been widely used in portable devices such as cellular phones, MP3 players and in automobiles. Today, WLAN devices are often embedded in these and countless other portable devices.
Beamforming is a signal processing technique used in sensor arrays for directional signal transmission or reception. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beamforming) In wireless devices, beamforming utilizing multiple antenna or multiple transceivers has been used as one means to increase signal strength and hence range in one or several desired directions. Historically, many methods have been utilized to perform beamforming in order to establish an initial connection. One traditional technique involves the use of DSP Processors and FPGA chips to search in various patterns. However, this technique is known to incur high development costs.
Another common approach to beamforming requires the use of a conventional isotropic signal in order to establish the initial connection and then perform the beamforming to increase signal to noise ratio. Under this method, as the range increases, the signal to noise ratio begins to decline which directly results in decreased performance. Hence, performance using the conventional isotropic signal is limited by the isotropic range.
A third approach to beamforming involves the use of multiple antennas and multiple transceivers as a way of increasing signal strength, and hence, the signal range. However, since the location of the link to be formed is unknown, there are often failed connections since the link location is too far away and not reachable. Therefore, this method proves to be both time-consuming and inefficient since the non-guided beams are either received in the wrong places, or not received at all.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method of transmitting and receiving beamforming that overcomes the above-described operational issues. The method should be cost-effective, easily implemented, efficient, and have good performance characteristics. The present invention addresses such a need.